Travel Diary

On Saturday, I got to sleep in a little bit, and then went to Meridian to meet up with Mimi, her husband, and kids, to go on a drive to the thermal baths. We carpooled from their house and headed north for a while until we stopped at a general store for some snacks. I really didn't need anything as I was eating lightly that day, but I did see some small candy boxes, including Boston Baked Beans and Lemon Heads, two snacks I used to enjoy as a kid. So I picked up those and some Hall’s cough drops. We then headed northeast along the mountain cliffs until we reached the Kirkham Hot Springs.

The parking lot was closed as the springs are essentially not open in winter—as a park service, but people are still allowed to go in and enjoy them even during the offseason. It's just that there are no facilities being run, aside from just outhouse type bathrooms.

Then I got to see the thermal baths. Amazing! They are pretty remarkable as the hot water is heated by geothermal activity, and just spring forth out of the mountain in quite a number of places. People sit under hot waterfalls or in small pools alongside the raging river. I was only halfway prepared as I did have shorts, but not really a way to walk around, or get dry or change after, so I limited my exposure. However, I still was able to enjoy it to a great degree, and I avoided the traumatic coldness of exiting such pools in a rapidly cooling late afternoon. We stayed there for quite a while, and I explored around, seeing just how many pools there were, and I even tested the piping hot water as it emitted straight out of the mountain, which was scolding hot, though, not boiling. After some time there we drove south again and headed back to their house.

They were cooking steak for dinner and invited me; I wasn't going to turn that down. It was a wonderful dinner with steak and rice and vegetables. At first I saw four huge steaks on a plate and was quite worried that I was going to be offered way more than I could possibly eat, but they reassured me that those were not being eaten individually, which was good to know as I don't think I'd even order that much at a restaurant for a special occasion. I just consumed a small portion of one.

Afterwards, we watched some of the past musical called “King David,” where we had all performed in over a decade prior. It was fun to see the production once again. I'd forgotten a lot about it and figured I hardly did anything in it, but I actually had a few scenes and songs or at least pieces of songs really. I also remembered it being quite difficult, and a tremendous amount of work to put on. 3 Crosses rarely does (did) light operas to that degree, so that was probably one of the heaviest operettas they have ever done—and ever will do I suppose, since the drama programs been canceled and destroyed.

After that, we chatted some more and then I drove back to Middleton. Mom and dad had already gone to bed, so I got a few snacks and then retired myself.